Forces & Motion in CAPS (Cars, Amusement Parks & Sports)
Syllabus
Instructors:
Arthur Eisenkraft, Professor, UMASS Boston arthur.eisenkraft@umb.edu
Office: Wheatley (4th floor – 4-181: between the orange lockers) Phone: 617.287.7652
Co-Instructors:
"Catherine Haberkorn" <chaberkorn@gmail.com>, Medford HS
Dates of Course: Jan 29; Feb 5, 12, 26; Mar 5, 12, 19; 23 Apr 2, 9, 23, 30; May 7, 14, 18
Note that March 23 and May 18 are Saturdays.
Evening meetings are scheduled 4:00 – 7:30. Saturdays are 9:00 – 3:30
Office hours: One hour before and after each course meeting and by appointment
Catalog Description: Motion and Forces in CAPS (Cars, Amusement Parks & Sports)
Motion and Forces are major organizing principles of science and their understanding led to the Newtonian revolution. This is a contextualized content graduate level course offered to provide pre- and in-service teachers with the in-depth knowledge of motion and forces that is necessary for effective science instruction in K-12 classes. This class will include content in motion, forces, momentum and energy that will allow us to better appreciate amusement park rides, sports and safe driving. Each topic will be “contextualized” with the Active Physics curriculum that is used in many districts. In addition, there will be opportunities for laboratory investigations, historical and philosophical insights into the content as well as reflections and discussions on the best way to communicate this content to K-12 students given their backgrounds and the misconceptions research insights. There are no prerequisites for taking the course and it is open to all elementary, middle and high school teachers. The format of the course will also provide insights into the value of project based learning, a 7E instructional model and the new Framework and Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS).
Objectives of the Course
Enduring understandings
The world is orderly and comprehensible
Four Essential Questions and how they apply to all science learning and instruction
What does it mean?
How do we know?
Why do we believe?
Why should I care?
There are a few BIG ideas in physics and a few COMMON themes of all science
There are multiple models for describing events and phenomena
Verbal
Qualitative
Mathematical
Graphical
Pictures
Course Content
Reaction time measurements
Speed and acceleration
Graphing motion
Model building
Newton’s laws
Projectiles
Friction
Conservation of energy
Gravity
Work and Power
Projects: Teams will work on the following project challenges
Demonstrate your knowledge of safe driving to a board of driving instructors
Create a voice-over for a sports clip explaining the science of the sporting event
Modify or design a roller coaster to meet the needs of a specific group of riders
Prerequisites
None Required Texts (provided for use during course)
Eisenkraft, Active Physics: Third Edition, 2009
Huggins, Physics 2000 – non-calculus
Eisenkraft. Quantoons. 2006.
Grading Policies
Grades will be determined by a combination of weekly assignments, participation, tests and the final project.
Class discussion/attendance/participation 15 points
Forces & Motion in CAPS (Cars, Amusement Parks & Sports)
Syllabus
Instructors:
Arthur Eisenkraft, Professor, UMASS Bostonarthur.eisenkraft@umb.edu
Office: Wheatley (4th floor – 4-181: between the orange lockers) Phone: 617.287.7652
Co-Instructors:
"Catherine Haberkorn" <chaberkorn@gmail.com>, Medford HS
Dates of Course: Jan 29; Feb 5, 12, 26; Mar 5, 12, 19; 23 Apr 2, 9, 23, 30; May 7, 14, 18
Note that March 23 and May 18 are Saturdays.
Evening meetings are scheduled 4:00 – 7:30. Saturdays are 9:00 – 3:30
Office hours: One hour before and after each course meeting and by appointment
Catalog Description: Motion and Forces in CAPS (Cars, Amusement Parks & Sports)
Motion and Forces are major organizing principles of science and their understanding led to the Newtonian revolution. This is a contextualized content graduate level course offered to provide pre- and in-service teachers with the in-depth knowledge of motion and forces that is necessary for effective science instruction in K-12 classes. This class will include content in motion, forces, momentum and energy that will allow us to better appreciate amusement park rides, sports and safe driving. Each topic will be “contextualized” with the Active Physics curriculum that is used in many districts. In addition, there will be opportunities for laboratory investigations, historical and philosophical insights into the content as well as reflections and discussions on the best way to communicate this content to K-12 students given their backgrounds and the misconceptions research insights. There are no prerequisites for taking the course and it is open to all elementary, middle and high school teachers. The format of the course will also provide insights into the value of project based learning, a 7E instructional model and the new Framework and Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS).
Objectives of the Course
Enduring understandings- The world is orderly and comprehensible
- Four Essential Questions and how they apply to all science learning and instruction
- What does it mean?
- How do we know?
- Why do we believe?
- Why should I care?
- There are a few BIG ideas in physics and a few COMMON themes of all science
- There are multiple models for describing events and phenomena
- Verbal
- Qualitative
- Mathematical
- Graphical
- Pictures
Course Content- Reaction time measurements
- Speed and acceleration
- Graphing motion
- Model building
- Newton’s laws
- Projectiles
- Friction
- Conservation of energy
- Gravity
- Work and Power
Projects: Teams will work on the following project challengesPrerequisites
None
Required Texts (provided for use during course)
Eisenkraft, Active Physics: Third Edition, 2009
Huggins, Physics 2000 – non-calculus
Eisenkraft. Quantoons. 2006.
Grading Policies
Grades will be determined by a combination of weekly assignments, participation, tests and the final project.